Kerry Plans Brief Stop in Egypt, His First Since Military Takeover, State Media Report

By KAREEM FAHIM

November 1, 2013

CAIRO — Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Egypt on Sunday in his first visit since the military deposed President Mohamed Morsi four months ago, state news media reported. The trip, which is supposed to last a few hours, was an unpublicized addition to Mr. Kerry’s official itinerary as he begins a nine-day trip that includes a fence-mending visit to Saudi Arabia.

Relations between the United States and Egypt, once-close allies, have grown increasingly strained, and Mr. Kerry is scheduled to arrive at a particularly fraught moment: the day before Mr. Morsi, detained incommunicado since his July 3 ouster, is to make his first court appearance on murder charges.

Since the military takeover, Egypt’s generals and their backers have lashed out at the United States, accusing it of showing favoritism toward Mr. Morsi and his supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood by, among other things, criticizing the military government’s withering crackdown on Islamists. Saudi Arabia, which strongly backs Egypt’s generals, has also rebuked the United States over its Egypt policy.

Last month, adding further stress to the Egypt relationship, the Obama administration announced a temporary freeze on some military assistance in what it said was a response to the government’s repression. At the same time, American officials have seemed anxious not to rupture ties, emphasizing, for instance, that the freeze was reversible and would not restrict aid for counterterrorism operations.

Egypt’s military-backed government, which has secured billions of dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia and other affluent Persian Gulf nations, has seemed impervious to pressure to moderate its crackdown.

Praise has not worked, either. In August, two weeks after Mr. Kerry said that Egypt’s generals had been “restoring democracy” by removing Mr. Morsi, the army and the police stormed two Islamist sit-ins, killing hundreds of people.

Thousands of Islamists have been detained since, including most of the senior leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt’s authorities have also resisted pressure to release Mr. Morsi, holding him for almost two months before charging him with crimes including inciting the killing of protesters outside his presidential palace. His trial, which is to start on Monday under heavy security, has raised fears of further unrest.

Thousands of Mr. Morsi’s supporters marched in cities across Egypt on Friday, in what they said was the start of four days of demonstrations to protest his prosecution.